Friday, May 27, 2005

This is in response to Totti's latest post in which he recalls yday's play at PCG and accuses all Indians of being tongue tied and not appreciative enuff of some female who dropped by to join us yday. He goes as far as to brand it as typical Indian attitude. Now I would have replied to Totti's blog on his comments page as is typical practice, just that i have too much to write on this accusatory and unfair generalisation. Totti's u have unknowingly stirred a hornet's nest and shall hopefully come in for lots of flak for this post of urs. Wat u need to realize is that there exist all sorts of ppl cutting across all communities and cultures and its unfair to brand all Indians the way u have done. The way u speak in ur article smacks of a very popular stereotype and makes Indians sound like regressive creatures incapable of striking up a conversation with a female.All i can say in the defense of PCG members is that we would have spent the evening chatting up to the latest guest and asking her out for coffee if we weren't busy with..........umm wat the hell were we doing yday..........but of course playing cricket. We still spent whatever time we had off the game explaining the rules to her and providing much needed encouragement. The so called sniggers when Shiva bowled to her (and I speak for myself) was pure amazement at her very admirable hand eye co-ordination (Shiva will begrudgingly admit to as much). I think she did a very good job for her first day at this alien game and she earned respect of most PCG members. Also we did well by treating her as a regular member during play and not making special concessions or treating her with kid gloves which i felt was the best way to make someone felt as part of a team rather than an unwanted newcomer. I hope I have made my point........adios Junta.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

I along with a few friends of mine recently saw a movie called Kya Kool Hain Hum (that roughly translates to Am I Kool? for the uninitiated btw Tushhar Kapoor even though U may proclaim as much jumping out of movie websites u never were and will never ever be cool in the next billion gazillion fafillion years) which is apparently doing very well in India. The movie was replete with below the belt humor and jokes that were too crude and crassy to be even labeled double meaning. When the movie had ended a friend tried to justify the brand of humor in the movie saying that this is what the new generation wanted to see, audience tastes were changing and that I would have laughed at similar jokes had it been an English movie like the Scary movie series or an American Pie. I actually began to wonder if I was actually maintaining double standards when i came to movie watching and whether I would dismiss a movie as a cheap one when recommending it to my parents and family even though I had enjoyed it during a private viewing session.After giving this matter a lot of thought, somewhere in the middle of which I was feeling pretty guilty about these double standards I managed to come to a conclusion that the answer to all these questions lay in a different domain altogether. I realized that when I am watching a hindi movie I watch it with a different set of expectations. I wouldnt be watching it in the first place if I really wanted to see a bunch of double meaning toilet paper jokes....... a rerun of the scary movies, Austin Powers etc would be good enough for that coz they do it best when it came to that class of humor. Mebbe that was the reason why I was left cold and unimpressed by the efforts of Indian filmmakers when they attempted sex comedies with both Masti and Kya Kool hain Hum. At a time when some people are creating magic with films like Swades and Black with Mangal Pandey to follow suit hopefully(both of which have the ability to floor any international audience anyday) I feel films like Kya Kool Hain Hum are a step in the backward direction, but then I have been away from India too long and I have lost the pulse of the audience............mebbe.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

I always remember the times when while watching the Sri lankan cricket team play cricket from the comforts of my home in Delhi the camera used to focus on Murali's eyes and the commentators couldnt just stop talking about the intensity in them and about he always gave it his all while bowlingfor the team. Now i always used to think that all this attention was uncalled for and why players couldnt be their normal self while either bowling or batting. To back what I have just stated I am producing a collage of some of my fav players in action. Note the intensity seething thru their eyes and also note Murali's uncanny resemblance to pointy.Some of my fav cricketers I was recently fwded some pics of PCG by Guru and it made me realize the folly of my thinking as I watched pics of myself in action. In the first pic that I shall produce I look like just another innocent bystander at the non striker's end looking as if I am out for a stroll in the park. But in the second pic as i face up to Sandy (or someone else bowling a very negative line) my expression suddenly changes and I am a picture of concentration with lips all pursed up. I finally managed to realize how true the age old adage 'Pictures speak louder than words' is.Me at the non stiker's end Me batting

Saturday, May 21, 2005

After much fanfare and media hype the BCCI finally decided to name the next Indian coach and successor to John Wright. While I would not like to dwell on the delay in announcing the successor even though the board was aware of Wright's intentions not to stay on after his tenure ended and the names that copped up during the whole selection process including Steve Waugh, John Embury, Dave Whatmore and even Balwinder Sandhu I would however like to state that i think Greg Chappell selection was a no brainer. Desmond Haynes thought that he should be made coach because he had good knowledge of West Indian conditions and that would help The Indian team with their World cup preparations. I don’t really know what to make of such a statement if a national coach's team immediate concern for a team relinquishing in the bottom rung of the ICC one day rankings is to win the World cup 2 years away and that’s the first thing he can think up of when asked about is credentials for the post.Mr. Mohinder Amaranth is however an altogether different story. He believed that the job should have been given to him just because he was Indian even though he was ready to use Fair and Lovely in case the media thought a person of foreign person stood a better chance. When asked by someone from the press whether he had a Laptop to iron out the players problems and strategize he replied by saying he didn’t have a laptop but he had a lap (I am not kidding he actually said that). Also his skills at using technology which is part and parcel of the modern era of cricket was on ample display when took close to two hours to make his presentation and finish his interview (although he was allotted 45 minutes) apparently because he had problems with the laptop computer (how the hell do u end up messing up while using MS PowerPoint) he was using. This happened even though Amarnath had brought along his brother-in-law to help handle the technology side of things. Need I say any more?Moving on the next candidate who I too believed would give Greg Chappell a run for his money (its official now a neat $230,000 plus perks). Tom Moody a young Australian all of 39 years and someone who had played against quite a few players of the current Indian cricket team. While he was a decent player in his heyday he never quite made the cut as a world class performer. He was a bits and pieces player bowling military medium and lower order explosive batsman. The only thing going in his favor was his young age and the fact that majority of the Indian players were backing him because they wanted a coach who could bowl. Now a sneak peek at Tom Moody's statistics tells you how ridiculous the whole line of thought was. He has picked up all of 2 measly wickets in test cricket. Considering the entire current Indian cricket team from people who have ever bowled in test cricket only dravid and laxman have lesser wickets (even they have 1 each and God forbid the day when our coach has to give the 2 bowling tips). Also his best in one day cricket of 3/23 is worse than all bowlers in the Indian squad all part timers included. So all in all his record wasn’t anything to write about and certainly paled in comparison to Chappell's record.Chappell has a very impressive record in both forms of the game racking up over 7000 runs in tests at a very impressive avg of 53.86 while notching up a very neat 47 wickets too including a fiver resulting in an Aussie victory against Pakistan (aha there's ur bowling coach if u r ready to accept Tom Moody anyways). For those who thought he was from the old school of cricket where one day international (ODI) cricket was unimportant he has an impressive avg of 40.18 in ODI's while taking 72 wickets at an avg of almost one per game. Besides he is known to be a connoisseur of the game and one of the shrewdest thinkers around. His record as coach of South Australia is equally impressive which is indeed impressive because they play in a league that in my opinion has the highest quality on first class cricket being played around the world and one of the reasons why Australia produced consistently world class performers. Also Chappell's been consulted by Indian players in the past to iron out imperfections in their batting techniques and he always been very forthcoming and ready to help in this regard. We must remember that this is a guy whose will to win is so strong that he would rather put his career on the line by asking his brother to bowl the last ball of the match an underarm rather than lose the game and that can only be a good sign for a team that is often been accused of being thick skinned and indifferent to losses. He has been offically appointed till the end of the next world cup and I as a genuine well wisher of the Indian cricket and a very passionate cricket fan hope he takes Indian cricket to greater heights thus writing a glorious chapter in its history.

Last but not the least a tearful adieu to John Wright. You have been a great servant of Indian cricket and have worked with the team to give us moments of great joy and happiness. I think I can finally say that I don’t hold you anymore for holding onto a young Sachin Tendulkar's catch preventing him from becoming the youngest centurion ever. I along with my fellow cricket fans wish you all the best for your future endeavors.

Phew its been quite a long blog must sleep now and thnx golu for inspiring me to write this one :)

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

I recently caught Titanic on DVD again and saw the movie in a different light this time as I managed to get past (still didnt get over though) ogling at the angelic Kate Winslet. For instance I realized the epic proportion of the disaster housed by the supposedly unsinkable ship. Also I managed to comprehend the scale of logistics mismanagement that left only 20 lifeboats on board for rescuing 2200 people on the ship. Of those 2200 only 500 managed to get onto the boats while an unfortunate 1700 lay freezing in the sub zero ocean waters. After the ship finally sank down to the bottom of the ocean only 1 of the the 20 lifeboats returned to salvage the drowning people which ended up in only 6 of them being rescued. Mebbe if u manage to catch the movie the next time around the numbers wouldn't just seem numbers and you might get a better realization of the scale of the loss of human life.One of the scenes in the movie set me thinking whether if I in a similar situation on a capsizing ship would give up my spot on the last life boat going off the ship to someone I know. I thought deep and hard about the number of people for whom I would actually undertake any such step (the imp thing being I should not think of it as a big sacrifice in fact i sholdnt be having any second thoughts abt the action). After sifting thru my past 24 years on this planet going thru entire lists of blood relations, friends, girlfriends etc I came up with a list showing up only 7-8 people. I somehow ended up thinking that it was a very small number and mebbe a sad reflection on the way I have lived life. I should have had more ppl on that list for sure coz i have always had loads and loads of friends but they just have never stuck that long with me as I have moved from school to school, school to college, college to graduate school, New delhi to State College watever may have been the reason. By the time I was finished thinking I resolved to have atleast 20 ppl on that list till I was done with livin my life.Wud help if all u ppl readin up this blog gimme numbers from ur hypothetical lists as comments here just to help me get an idea of where i stand on this.

A few days back I was told by a friend of mine that he found it kinda appreciable that I showed an active interest in his culture coming from north India since he belonged to a different part of India. While i found the comment strange at first it has surprisingly lodged itself in a corner of my brain and has been prodding me for a long time to write a blog on it. I say that i found the remark strange coz he mentioned that I was not like and I quote 'the typical Northie'. Now I dont exactly know what he meant by that statement but the way I have been in my interactions with him is the way i have always been and I am not going out of my way when i sound inquisitive about things that would not normally form part of my routine day. I have always thought that all of us have been different in our all small way because of the varied diversity that India offers in terms of cultures and lifestyles. So I in my own small way try and imbibe the good things that all the cultures have to offer be it a new recipe or some new music release coz it eventually makes my life turn for the better be it in a very small way.

That's the reason why I hate it when ppl get into calling names like 'Southie', 'northie' etc in a way that might be perceived as offensive or deriding. I realize that inspite of any number of friends I make in States during my short or long stay in States the surrounding Indian community will always form part of my support group. I already have a sizeable number of new friends from India and my life has been richer with my experiences and interactions with them.

On a separate topic I would like to voice my displeasure publicly against ppl who speak in their mother tongues around ppl of other communities (the bongs and maharashtrians are especially guilty of this offence). Please try and realize that such a practice is just plain rude and try and I request all of you to desist from it in future.

P.S. the bongs plzz plzzzz plzzzz dont get me wrong, in fact all u bong babes out there u r amongst the gorgeous looking Indian girls I have known personally :)

I am in one of those moods today. Its times like these when a wierd nothingness envelops ur mind. You would rather be anywhere else doing anything else at times like these. A wierd state of mind when a certain numbness permeates ur mind. I for no reason feel kinda low but I cant really put a finger on the reasons. I dont even have any ideas as to how to crawl outta this state of mind. I've been here b4 and this blog is a conscious attempt to put my feelings down on paper so that I can mebbe ascertain the reason. In fact I realize that I cant even pen down my true state of mind coz i dont really know it. All I know is that right now I so want to cry at some movie, or laugh at anyone's arbit jokes, or speak to some long lost friend..........nything. I would rather be doing anything else than feel the way I am feeling currently.I really do hate it when this kinda thing happens. Am I the only who goes thru this kind of emotional low (thats the closest I beleive I can get to describing my current state..........for either lack of words or either lack of understanding of my psyche) or do we all go thru this at some point of our lives?

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Friday, May 13, 2005

The ppl at PCG finally decided to get together off the field after almost 2 years of playing cricket together. We met up at Sports Cafe with junta showing up most punctually by IST. Nyways it was good fun with the usual digs at Totti and R.S. (bugger didnt show up at all). Had another party scheduled at Hooters so didnt hang around with the PCG folks for too long (my apologies for that). Enjoyed my first trip to Hooters even though we ended up with a very un-Hooter like (get the drift) but sweet chic serving us (didnt hurt that the whole thing was sponsored too).I managed to get home in time to catch the Spurs-Sonics game but slept midway on the couch. Unortunately woke up at 4 am to discover that extra hot chicken wings and a Bud too many are not members of the mutual admiration society (atleast not at 4 am on Friday the 13th housed up together in my stomach). So I had to engage in some paperwork (got it.........................try and get there faster the next time around :)Nyways the good part abt it was that I managed to catch a repeat of the game even though I was cursing Duncan by the time I got back to gettin some more sleep.

Some interesting observations from a fwd:Complex problems have simple,easy to understand wrong answers Alcohol 'doesn't solve any problems',but then again, neither does milk. Most people are only 'alive' becauseit is illegal to shoot them. I remember the time I was kidnapped and they sent a piece of my finger to my father ....- He said he wanted more proof.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

I was accused yday of writing only cricket based aticles on my blog by a co-blogger. I would have ignored his comments but for the fact that the statistics are stacked against me too and the fact that i personally value his blogging skills pretty highly. This realisation sends me off on this quest for the underlying reason. I have often been to other been to other ppl's blogs and noticed that they are capable of truely independent and creative thinking. While I appreciate this trait of theirs, I for some reason find myself incapable of it. I find myself goaded into action only when something that finds a place in my heart is discused or brought up be it in a negative or positive sense of the world. At most other times my mind is either a clean slate or engaged in thoughts that i am too conscious of penning down on my blog (naaah the last line had all the makings of a classsic excuse). Mebbe I should get more cognizant of my surroundings and stop living thru life in a daze. Mebbe I should think longer and harder about things. But the question is whether one can make oneself think creatively or does one need a basic rudimentary setup to churn out such creative thinking. And the answer to that is something that i dont really know?I just paused for a moment and realized that this post has all the makings of a classic rambling coz no line is connected to the previous one and the whole post is headed nowhere. Now isnt that why i started blogging in the first place. I am therfore left with with a feeling of achievment as I pen down the last lines of this post as to having realized my true intentions of blogging as I had seen it in the true sense of the world.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

I have often wondered if its just common human tendency to appreciate and uphold a person when he is doing well and also kick a person down to dust when he doing badly. I have always thought that it should be the other way round coz when a person is doing well then he needs to be grounded by people around him so that all that success does not go to his head. At the same time a person who is experiencing a low in his life needs all the support and backing to work his way up.Although i have gone thru this chain of thinking quite a few times before also the latest catalyst for setting these thoughts back to action was a recent article i came across on the Indian Express sports page where he accuses Sachin of being selfish to the extent of hurting team interests. He goes on to accuse him of lacking confidence in his trade and therefore making use of media to answer his ciritcs. While pushing this point this point thru he goes on and has the audacity to take his crack too at Sachin, questioning his integrity as a team player. Now this guy needs to realize that there's only so much a self respecting man can take and when all the trash talking about him goes over the top he has to step up and answer it else his critics would take his silence as a silent acknowledgement. Also the writer should have enough common sense to realize that its off season cricket wise for the Indian team and there's no way in the world that Sachin can let his bat do the talking for quite a while now.Admittedly Sachin is going through a mini-crisis but this is the time when all the media, sports writer and so called experts/ex-cricket players come out with ways to help him out of it rather than attacking his integrity because whether one admits it or not he is going to be around for the next world cup and needs to kick on in order for India to have any chance of lifting the cup (he ran us pretty close the last time around remember).

Monday, May 09, 2005

Fresh from a meal of Cerelac and armed with new diapers and bib he stepped out looking all dapper in his new pram. It was a hot Chennai afternoon and he was kept protected in the comforts of his new sunroof equipped pram. As his mom towed him down the narrow street he kept looking out at the Chidambaram Stadium wondering what would be going on today beyond the huge walls encircling the cricket pitch. He nursed a dream to play someday for the team blue emulating the one day feats of Kapil dev and their now toast of the country world cup victory. While traffic was generally busy that day he kinda felt safe on the one way sidewalk that he had graced for almost 3 years now. While he was lost in his grand plans for the day his mom also had apparently other things (like his overactive bladder and the shooting costs of diapers) to keep her occupied. I guess none of them managed to notice the other pram coming in from the other side ignoring the one way only sign. His mom tried to avoid ramming into the oncoming pram but the other pram shook violently from side to side with the jerky and hyperactive actions of its lone passenger. The crash was heart wrenching causing extensive wrist elbow and shoulder injuries to both passengers of prams. He was told that he would never be able to play for team India unless the ICC made a mockery of the bowling rules 22 years henceforth. His dreams shattered and washed away by this cruel twist of fate, he started concentrating on his studies while also practicing knife throwing for circuses as a side job. While his studies flourished he also earned a name for his throwing abilities and his precision for being able to throw anything on a spot with an inch of precision. He managed to make it through his undergraduate years at college with flying colors and came away to a foreign distant land to pursue ambitions of a higher education. But he wasn’t to know that he would be able to pursue his ambition of playing his favorite game after so many years, away form the prying eyes of ICC bending his arm to even 16 degrees (what the hell he could even bend it to 116 if he wanted). And so began his legend of being an expert bowler at PCG for his uncanny ability to throw on a spot and he began enjoying happy days in his life after being scarred from that accident. Unfortunately in a final twist of fate he met his nemesis initialed R.S., the guy who had rammed his pram thus destroying his ambitions of playing for team India, on the same PCG grounds. Wats worse the other guy seemed to have gained instant fame and recognition at PCG. While the final result of this showdown is still awaited I shall keep you guys posted on this one. Watch this space for details.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Cricket got back at PCG and a day of insanity and mayhem when the PCG was taken away from us by some overzealous security guard and arbit high school vice principal. Thank God i wasnt around to go through the tribulation myself...might have been too much for me (cricket is 2 precious a thing to be lost for an entire period of 4 months).I guess the PCG junta felt pretty much the same and they were all charged up for the return game after the hiatus. Had 3 awesome games at PCG (wudnt hurt to add that my team made a clean sweeep) with the last one taking the cake. The last one was marred by some questionable umpiring decisions that were contested by both the fielding and batting team. I would just like to add my take on that. I feel that when you send in someone to umpire then you are indicating faith in his cricketing abilities and if you begin to question this faith mid way through the match and offer to replace him then its not fair on the individual and the game. Thats like tampering with the game and trying to influence it with an aspect which pertains to neither batting, bowling and fielding. As i saw from yesterday there were a few decisions that apparently went against both the batting and fielding teams as felt by the aggrieved parties and eventually it all balanced out in the end. I personally it was top umpiring by the person concerned to stand by his decisions.Another issue is the sledging that is going around with our games at PCG. While general banter is always good for the game i feel that off late a particular individual's been targeted too often (i personally plead guilty to that charge too) and he kinda snapped at one point yday(quite rightly so). Mebbe its time we need to reassess that aspect coz i tried putting myself in that person's shoes and realized it wasnt the most comfortable of places to be in. I suddenly realize that i personally am not a target on such a treatment (which is a good thing guys plzzz remember.....kudos to u guys for that)even though i am guilty of it at a lot of occasions .P.T.(passing thought for the uninitiated) what's so uplifting abt ending sleep that its christened 'waking up' and wats so bad abt being in love that its christened 'falling in love'

Thursday, May 05, 2005

My heart soars with every added hit on the blog site as i notice that my last post about Ganguly was actually read by a lot of people. I have henceforth decided to stick with writing similar thought provoking and incisive (read controversial) articles in my continued efforts to score more hits (just kidding ppl dont worry none of ur dark secrets are coming out nytime soon on this blogsite).I had a long day dropping Jhanvi off to pittsburg on her way to India as a result of which i missed out on some much needed cricket (read batting as i dont really long to queue up for bowling....my heart does go out to all courageous bowlers nonetheless) and a dinner treat by sardarni at Mad Mex (i guess). I hope Jhanvi makes up for this with an extra bagload of sweets from India. But the whole trip was kinda fun as i had never visited Pittsburg before and i always get timeoff to think, reassess life, get in touch with my inner self (and similar crap...hope u get the drift) on these long rides (not recommended if you are on the driver's seat). In fact now that I think about it the only time i do some serious thinking is when I am on a long walk, on such long rides and in the shower. Got a call mid noon from sardarni informing me that she had gotten a job (way 2 go ......congrats) and that sent me wheeling into another active round of thinking. Have i actually spent enough time and energy into my job search? Now wait i shouldnt even to bother to answer this one. In fact i shouldnt even bother to ask myself this question. So I concluded by making a resolution to be more pro active and sincere with my job search. Gosh all that thinking must have been pretty stressful coz i slept like a baby for 2 hrs after that...........woke up, watched tv for 3 hrs and then drove back to State College from where i sit on my couch writing this blog at 2:30 in the night. Guess i better catch some sleep now. So much for my resolution abt my job search.P.S. I made an arbit comment to a friend of mine ' Flirting is the best tonic for the ego '. I am still wondering if that was an original comment or did i read it up from someplace.

Monday, May 02, 2005

I've been goin through loads of articles recently about the Indian cricket team as to what can be and what needs to be done to get it back and running. A lot of advice and suggestions have been pouring in from foreign quarters most of which has been plain bad and the rest to put it nicely .....absolutely roobish. Some of them have even gone so far to suggest that Ganguly be sacked from the team and Sachin should also make a graceful exit. thsi is pretty surprising when you notice that some of this is being dished out by people who hung around in their team taking their places for granted till they had to be forcefully chucked out of the team. As for Ganguly he was never a world class player, he'll never be one (i suspect he'll admit to as much in the safe comforts of an 'off the record' interview). Also team India has never been a consistently world class team but under ganguly they surely have shown the signs to become one. He has shown the world that team India will be no pushovers in the world arena and will dish out watever is being served out to them on the cricket field. He has proven himself to be a proactive captain rather than be just one of the 11 guys on the field......recall Azzhubhai. He has been game enough to back young players to give them an extended run coz he has seen a certain spark in them. This spark has shown bright in the longer run and lit the cricketing fraternity with stars like Sehwag, Bhajji, Pathan, Zaheer and of course Dinesh Mongia, Patel, Laxmi Ratan Shukla (sorry ppl bad joke). So its time that India shows the same kinda faith in him and back him coz we've all seen the spark that lies in his blade. He has made various personal sacrifices for the team benefit like stepping down from the opening slot, a position at which he was the second best in the world behind the GOD himself (all ur counter arguments are going to be buried under the weight of 10000 (ok -33) runs in ODI's at a very respectable avg of 41.18 and 5000 (ok -51 godamnit u guys really do hate this guy) runs in tests at a slightly less than respectable avg of 40.9. But then he never has been a big player as far as tests are concerned. I wud even concede that his performances have going down from that one magical day at Lords when the Maharaj announced himself to the world. But then as they say its not the size of a dog in a fight but the size of the fight in the dog and Ganguly has surely been ever up for that fight. So all I say give this man a second chance and if he isnt up to the lofty standards that all we Indians expect from our cricketers (but so shamelessly fail to uphold in our personal lives) then I promise you that the man himself will step down from the hot seat coz selfish as he might be be he will never be knowingly part of any scheme that harms the interests of the indian team. Till then let him and the new coach (breaks my heart to know that it shall not be Steve Waugh) weed out the 'I' and 'ME' 's from TEAM INDIA. Here's a special something called genius from the man himself. 2 Awesome sites check them out